For this spelling game, arrange students into equal-size teams of anywhere from 3 to 10 players. Have students line up or sit in circles; each team should choose a member to be their first player.

Before beginning the game, decide whether you want the words in this spelling bee contest to be words most students should be able to spell without error, current spelling words, commonly misspelled words, or challenging words. (Use words from your school districts spelling program or see the spelling word resources that appear below.)

Choose a team to begin and call out a word for that team to spell; use the word in a sentence so students hear the word used in context. Have students take turns calling out one letter of the word at a time; the first student on the team calls out the first letter of the word, the second person calls out the second letter, and so on. (If the word has four or more letters and the team has only three members, then play returns to the first person on the team after the third letter is called out.) If the team correctly spells the word, they earn one point and play moves to the second team. If the second team spells their word correctly, they earn one point and play moves to the third team

When a team spells a word incorrectly, play passes immediately to the next team. If that team spells the word correctly, they earn two points (the one they earned and the one that would have been given to the first team if they had spelled the word correctly); if the second team spells the word incorrectly, play passes to the third team, which earns three points if they correctly spell the word

At the end of the game, the team with the most points might be awarded a special prize.

Variations
After students get comfortable with the flow of the game, you might try the following variations:

Place a time limit on play. For example, each team might have 15 seconds to spell their assigned word. If they take more time than that, play immediately moves to the next team.

If a player makes a mistake by calling out the wrong letter, the next player on the team might be given the opportunity to correct the spelling error. If that player does not correct the error, play immediately moves to the next team.